


trash talk, making me itch

by caelestys



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Accidental Relationship, Awkward Conversations, Love Through Food and Coffee, M/M, Shovel Talk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-10
Updated: 2014-08-10
Packaged: 2018-02-12 14:06:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2112786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caelestys/pseuds/caelestys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Fancy seeing you here,” Herc mutters. Raleigh has a feeling he’s being sarcastic.</p><p>Mako hides a snicker in the sleeve of her jacket. She’s always been too clue-y for her own good, and Raleigh makes a face at her behind Herc’s back. “Just checking out the new recruits, sir,” he says brightly.</p><p>Herc narrows his eyes at him. “You think I don’t know what’s going on, but you’re wrong.”</p><p>Raleigh grins at him. Out of the corner of his eye, Chuck is dusting crumbs off his jacket, and he can’t find it in himself to be worried.</p><p>“You’re both idiots,” Mako says, smiling. Herc nods in agreement.</p><p> Chuck just looks confused.</p>
            </blockquote>





	trash talk, making me itch

**Author's Note:**

> For [synekdokee](http://synekdokee.tumblr.com)'s prompt:
>
>> Can I prompt can i prompt??? Ummm Herc giving Raleigh the shovel talk but not like a crazy dad just like "that my baby thar u take good care." Maybe a few death threats tho.

It could be the whole almost-dead-and-then-not thing that’s fostered a weird, unexpected kind of understanding between them, but Raleigh’s surprised to find that Chuck’s not actually that bad, despite his prickly exterior, hair-trigger temper and insufferable need to scare the shit out of trainee pilots. He’s got a biting wit that has Raleigh and Mako hiding smiles behind their fists, Herc glaring at all of them like they’re particularly annoying children.

So when Raleigh has to be in Sydney for some long term consultation sessions at HQ, he crashes in Chuck’s guest room. Mako’s still mostly based in the Shatterdome, and she offers to set aside a room for him, but Raleigh hates the claustrophobia of steel walls and heavy doors. It makes sense, when Mako suggests it, and Chuck agrees. Free reign of his kitchen, no hotel or rent fees. All Raleigh has to do is restock the toilet paper and beer, and keep Chuck fed at all times. Which is all totally fine with him, because his carcinogenic intake when Chuck is allowed to cook anything is dangerously unhealthy.

It makes sense, or at least, it does until Herc storms into his office in the Shatterdome a month into his stay and slaps down a copy of New Idea on his desk.

“What is this?”

Raleigh blinks at the cover of the magazine. He and Chuck are staring back up at him from the cover page. The headline shouts, JAEGER BOYFRIENDS: NEW LIFE AND LOVE IN SYDNEY, accompanied by their headshots and a few blurred paparazzi shots of the two of them exiting Chuck’s apartment building with sunglasses on, Raleigh holding the door open for Chuck.

“Jaeger boyfriends? That’s a terrible headline,” Raleigh says, frowning. Then, “Why are you reading New Idea?”

Herc sputters. “None of your business! I want to know what’s going on between you and my son.”

"Sir, you do know that I’m temporarily living in Chuck’s guest room for the duration of consultations, right?”

"And that’s all there is," Herc growls dangerously. It’s a statement more than a question, and Raleigh is only slightly kind of scared.

"As far as I know, sir."

Herc’s jaw twitches, and after a pause, he says, “God, you’re clueless, kid.” He stares at Raleigh, who fidgets uncomfortably. ”Right then.” Then he coughs awkwardly, nods, claps Raleigh on the shoulder and leaves, just as Chuck wanders in through the open door.

"What was that about?" Chuck says. He’s holding a carry tray with two cups of coffee from the cafe across the road, and a paper bag. Whatever’s inside smells chocolatey and delicious.

"That was the weirdest conversation of my life," says Raleigh, making grabby hands for the coffee. Chuck slides the carry tray onto his desk, obscuring the cover of the magazine, and rummages around in the paper bag.

"Going senile in his old age," Chuck murmurs, and Raleigh hums around a mouthful of flat white. It’s on the cool side of hot, half a sugar, not too frothy, just the way he likes it. His stomach grumbles, and he eyes the bag hopefully.

"Did you know your dad reads New Idea?" he says.

Chuck chokes.

He hopes Chuck brought him a hedgehog slice to go with his coffee. The cafe across the road makes the best ones.

+

He makes spaghetti for dinner that night, because it’s Chuck’s favourite, even if he pretends to hate Raleigh’s cooking. He feeds Max bacon cut-offs and laughs because Max is developing a habit of following him around the apartment, looking at him hopefully, and Chuck has noticed and is not happy about it. Raleigh’s slowly and sneakily usurping Chuck’s position as Max’s favourite person. Chuck has no idea why, and Raleigh is delightedly and insufferably smug.

Chuck gets home late, and they eat sprawled on opposite ends of the couch with their feet propped up on the coffee table, watching reruns of stupid crime TV shows. Chuck complains about the extra mushrooms in the sauce, but he goes back for seconds, and then sprawls, patting his full belly and satisfied, at the end of the couch. Raleigh throws his dirty balled-up napkins at the TV every time a character says something overly-dramatic, and Chuck tells him off for messing up his apartment. 

Raleigh replies to his emails in bed that night. He can hear Chuck stacking the dishwasher and the skitter of Max’s nails across the hardwood as he scampers after the squeaky bone Chuck keeps throwing for him. He leaves the door open, because he loves the look of complete and utter betrayal on Chuck's face when he finds Max snuggled up in Raleigh’s doona in the morning.

He’s going to be Max’s favourite, come hell or high water.

+

The magazine sits on his desk for another fortnight, under a messy spread of blueprints and training guides, and Raleigh almost forgets that it’s there until he can’t find the agenda for his meeting in the afternoon. He starts shuffling things into reasonably neat stacks of paper, and the magazine slips to the floor. The horribly photoshopped, glossy image of his and Chuck’s headshots from their PPDC glory days stares up at him from his feet.

It never gets any less surprising to see the media speculate on his currently non-existent love life, but it’s the first time that they’ve speculated about him and Chuck, as opposed to some random pretty J-tech he happened to grab a coffee and a smoke with on his break. Raleigh scoffs softly to himself, but he’s struck by sudden curiosity. He flips the magazine open.

He’s late to his meeting and has to read off Mako’s agenda, but he can’t pay attention anyway.

+

The magazine seems to have a giant fucking hard-on for Chuck. Obviously that’s just stupid, because Chuck’s a pretentious asshole to pretty much everyone who isn’t a dog. He’s a complete bear in the morning before he’s had his coffee, and he’s even more of a dick if the coffee isn’t made to perfection, because apparently Australians are coffee snobs. He always buys the pulpy orange juice and then drinks it straight out of the carton, which is gross, and he always manages to turn something of Raleigh’s pink in the wash. He’s a dick to the new recruits because he likes scaring the more delicate ones away, and when Raleigh asks, he shrugs and says, “It’s survival of the fittest, Becket. If they can't handle me, how are they gonna handle a kaiju?”

But despite being a grumpy, demanding smart-ass 90% of the time, Chuck still brings Raleigh sustenance when he’s neck-deep in paperwork and meetings, and has never asked him to pay rent. He stocks the fridge with Peroni because he knows it’s Raleigh’s favourite, even though he calls it ‘the arse end of the pissiest shit that comes out of a keg’, and grumbles when he finds Max in Raleigh’s bed in the morning but leaves his bedroom door open anyway so Max can come and go as he pleases. He makes fun of Raleigh’s cooking and eats every last bit of it. He takes forever to wake up in the morning, emerging from his room bleary-eyed with his hair sticking up in eight different directions, scratching himself through his sweatpants, and Raleigh is always disgustedly amused by it.

Shit.

They’re in a _relationship_.

+

Oh.

That’s why Herc was grilling him.

Everything kind of makes sense now.

+

Still doesn’t explain why Herc’s reading trash mags.

+

Raleigh’s always been pretty in touch with his baser emotions, which is why it surprises him when he expects himself to feel weird about it, but… doesn’t. He’s been with guys before, but this feels different. There’s no wild, electric heat or instant physical attraction; just a slow, steady burn.

The thought of Chuck harbouring secret affections for him, or vice versa, should make him kind of uncomfortable, in theory. But Raleigh just feels like the affection was already there, just waiting for him to acknowledge it. He thinks he should maybe protest or try to examine that line of thought further, but the energy required to do that doesn’t seem worth it, and it feels right and comfortable and inevitable anyway, so he just lets it settle around him like a warm blanket.

Chuck’s already awake and munching down a slice of vegemite toast when Raleigh stumbles into the kitchen in the morning. Max is sprawled on his belly on the couch, snout between his paws. He licks Raleigh’s hand and snuffs when Raleigh passes by and scrubs it across his scruff. There’s already a bottle of milk and a clean, empty bowl on the kitchen island, and he helps himself to Kellogg’s cornflakes. Chuck slides a mug of hot tea across the table when he sits down, and Raleigh won’t admit that he’s come around to the idea that English Breakfast tea is fucking delicious, but he murmurs a thank you.

“No worries,” Chuck says absently, shrugging.

Raleigh can see the freckles on his shoulders. He wonders if they were always that distracting, or it’s just a result of having his world turned on its head.

+

Chuck’s been given the run-around by the engineering department today. He hasn’t had lunch and he’s running back and forth between departments, and Raleigh can tell that his temper’s going to go through the roof if he doesn’t get food in him in the next two minutes. To make it worse, the skies have broken open, and Herc and Chuck have to be on the helipad to receive a new group of trainee pilots. Raleigh hurries to meet them there.

Herc side-eyes him when he opens an umbrella over Chuck’s head and hands him his lunch. Chuck moans in relief when he tears into the focaccia. He’s marginally less pissed off and very much dry when he greets the new trainees.

“Fancy seeing you here,” Herc mutters. Raleigh has a feeling he’s being sarcastic.

Mako hides a snicker in the sleeve of her jacket. She’s always been too clue-y for her own good, and Raleigh makes a face at her behind Herc’s back. “Just checking out the new recruits, sir,” he says brightly.

Herc narrows his eyes at him. “You think I don’t know what’s going on, but you’re wrong.”

Raleigh grins at him. Out of the corner of his eye, Chuck is dusting crumbs off his jacket, and he can’t find it in himself to be worried.

“You’re both idiots,” Mako says, smiling. Herc nods in agreement.

Chuck just looks confused.

+

Wooing Chuck isn’t as easy as he thought it would be. He has no idea how to make his affections any clearer, short of making a dramatic declaration, which is pretty much guaranteed to make Chuck punch him in shock and then run in the opposite direction, or surprising him by climbing naked into his bed and risking life and limb, and probably his balls, too. He’s kind of attached to those. 

To his credit, it only takes Chuck two weeks of being being plied with food and affection to realize something is going on. Raleigh isn’t sure whether it’s Herc’s increasingly suspicious comments, or Raleigh taking shameless advantage of the power being out in the apartment to light candles over dinner, but Chuck stalks into his room one night and slams the door behind him.

“So I had a lovely chat with my Dad today,” he says, glaring at Raleigh, arms crossed over his chest. “He had some pretty interesting things to say about you.”

“Really? Lately Herc hasn’t been doing anything except cornering me and making sarcastic comments.”

“Well, want to explain why he thinks your skirt-chasing skills are apparently lacking and I need to do something about that? What the hell do I have to do with anything?”

“Well, I’m definitely not chasing anyone wearing a skirt, but he’s probably right, because my efforts haven’t worked on you yet.”

Chuck stares at him. His mouth is hanging open like a goldfish. Raleigh wants to take a photo for posterity's sake, but his phone is swimming somewhere underneath his pillows.

“Me?” Chuck looks like he’s been punched in the gut.

“Yep.”

“You’re - I don’t wear skirts!”

“I don’t think that’s the point, Chuck.”

The look on Chuck’s face when realization dawns is both adorable and hilarious. He flops down heavily on Raleigh’s bed and pulls a pillow over his face. “You lit _candles_ at dinner,” he says, muffled. Raleigh sighs.

“Chuck, New Idea wrote a piece on us having a secret love affair. Your Dad keeps looking at me like he knows something I don’t, and Mako calls me an idiot every time she sees me. You know exactly how I take my coffee, and you bring it to me when I’m busy. You’re horrible to everyone, but you always save a pudding cup for me at lunch. You do the dishes when I cook and you turn all my things pink in the wash. You’ve been letting me live here rent free for almost three months. If you’re trying to tell me something, then I’m the last person on earth to get the message, and if you’re not, then this is just really awkward and you might want to leave my room now so I can try and strangle myself to death in my bedsheets -“

“Don’t do that. You’re fucking heavy. I don’t know how I’m supposed to get rid of your body,” Chuck grumbles, but he moves the pillow half off his face and looks up at Raleigh.

Raleigh lies down next to him. “Are you calling me fat?” he says, poking Chuck in the side.

“I’m just saying, your death would be a huge inconvenience in my life,” Chuck says, rolling over to face Raleigh and hugging the pillow to his chest.

“Because you wouldn’t be able to lift me into the dumpster?”

“Well, Mako could help me.”

“Mako would never help you dispose of my body,” Raleigh scoffs, tugging the pillow away. Chuck lets him. “Plus, Max would mourn forever.”

“Which reminds me, why the hell does he like you so much? You’re not that special.”

“Ah, turns out your dog likes bacon as much as you do.” As if on cue, Max sticks his nose into the gap under the door and huffs.

“You little shit,” Chuck says, eyes widening. “Who said you could be the fun parent?”

“The fun parent, huh?”

“I can’t fucking believe you,” Chuck sighs. Then, after a pause, he says, “Well, since it seems like it would just make life difficult for everyone if I got rid of you, I might as well keep you around.”

“Chuck Hansen, always thinking about the greater good,” Raleigh scoffs, smiling, and Chuck wrinkles his nose. Raleigh smooths a hand down his side, and counts it as a victory when Chuck curls closer.

“Max would hate me forever anyway,” says Chuck, pink-cheeked and adorably shy.

Raleigh presses him back into the bedsheets, tangles a hand in his hair and kisses him until his blush goes away.

+

Raleigh runs into Herc on the way to the cafeteria. Herc stops him with a hand on his shoulder.

"I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that if you hurt him, no one will ever find your body,” he says, looking dangerously serious, but also like being stuck alone and starving on an iceberg in the Antarctic circle would be much more preferable to the current situation.

Raleigh wonders whether conversations with Herc will ever get any less awkward. He also hopes that he’ll never have to have this conversation with him the day after thoroughly debauching his son, ever again.

“I don’t doubt it for a second.”

Herc pats him awkwardly on the shoulder. “I guess in the grand scheme of things, he could do a lot worse,” he concedes, after a moment.

Raleigh isn’t sure, but he thinks that means Herc approves. "For the record, New Idea probably isn’t the best way to keep track of your sons relationships," he says casually.

Herc purples and coughs. “Let’s never have this conversation again,” he says.

“Good idea, sir.”

If Raleigh didn’t know him any better, he’d say Herc pretty much bolts in the other direction.

+

A week later, he puts in his application to transfer to Sydney. He’d never tell Chuck, because Chuck would make fun of him forever, but he tears the cover page and story out of the magazine to keep, and gives the rest of it to Herc, who promptly stuffs it in the trash.

Max makes himself a permanent fixture on the foot of their bed.

Chuck still brings him coffee and treats on his breaks, and Raleigh finds - to his horror - that vegemite doesn’t taste so horrible when he’s kissing the lingering taste out of Chuck’s mouth in the morning.

It’s a pretty good arrangement, all things considered.

**Author's Note:**

> In case it wasn’t obvious, I express my love through coffee, food and awkward conversations that I would much rather not have at all, and that is exactly how I have managed and maintained every romantic relationship I have ever had.
> 
> Hedgehog slices are delicious, chilled bars of chocolate and soft, crushed tea-biscuits in alternating layers, and they are amazing.
> 
> Originally posted [here](http://caelestys.tumblr.com/post/94333195278/can-i-prompt-can-i-prompt-ummm-herc-giving-raleigh). Come say hi if you liked it!


End file.
